Philip Hammond risks Brexiteers’ wrath as he offers EU trawlers access to UK waters ‘for a good City deal’

A source close to the Environment Secretary Michael Gove said giving access to EU boats to our fish would be 'totally unacceptable and goes against the result of the referendum'

By Harry Cole, Westminster Correspondent

8th March 2018, 2:56 am

Updated: 8th March 2018, 3:01 am

Philip Hammond last night sparked Brexiteer fury after dangling access to UK fishing waters for EU trawlers in return for a good trade deal that protects the City of London.

Exploding his long running row with Environment Secretary Michael Gove, the Chancellor said he was “open to discussing” a fishing deal as he warned Brussels they rely on Britain's powerhouse financial services sector.

Hammond delivers a keynote speech on Brexit at HSBC headquarters at Canary Wharf in London on March 7, where he made the case for EU and British collaboration on financial services to continue post-Brexit

“Let us not now propose new barriers where there need be none”, he added.

Addressing HSBC bankers, he said the booming City of London was a "European asset" but one British taxpayers bared the risks for while the whole continent benefited.

Warning against punishing the City over Brexit, the Chancellor added: "This is not a zero-sum game where any loss of market share in London is automatically a gain to another EU capital."

MP for North East Somerset Jacob Rees-Mogg wants to protect British fishing communities

Last night the Fishing for Leave group accused Mr Hammond of “testing the water to see if they can get away with selling out coastal communities."

Boss Alan Hasting hit out: “For an EU that’s keen to avoid ‘cherry picking’ they are after the sweetest of them all – to continue pillaging £3-4 billion pounds of fish from our rich resources that were sacrificed to the EU to join.”

But Brussels insisted that a trade deal with the UK will be conditional on EU fishermen securing ongoing access to our waters.

One official told The Sun: "I find it very difficult to imagine there would be an agreement on that without also an agreement on mutual access to fishing waters, that’s a political reality."

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But Mr Hammond’s position was boosted by leading French businessman Pascal Lamy - who was the head of the World Trade Organisation - conceding that the EU and London should attempt to hammer out a deal on services.

He told the BBC “they should try” but warned that “whenever they get somewhere, this will be much less stable than what we have at present” as Brexit was like “trying to remove an egg from an omelette.”

Last night a source close to the Environment Secretary said: “Michael has been clear that we need to take back control of our waters, the suggestion of the same access in future is totally unacceptable and goes against the result of the referendum.”